Just for the record – izakaya is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food (to accompany the drinks…).
Decor has a couple of really great ideas for using space; one is the large long table with an empty center filled with bamboo creating a barrier between you and the person sitting opposite so neither one of you can see the other creating a square bar table of sort – very nice and the bamboo has a great quality of making one feeling fresh and soothed. The other great feature in my opinion is the bamboo shades (like the ones you would put on your window to block the sun or the nosy neighbor) dividing large tables for four or six people into segments creating a partition between you and your neighbors as if you have your own table – they could be lifted up for large parties and pulled back down with a pull of a string.
The food was very nice as I expected; we ordered one dish from the regular menu – Ebi Mayo which was good but far from being innovative – deep fried shrimp with spicy mayo and some greens (I had the same one in Guu w/garlic a few weeks ago – review to follow). The other two dishes were from the daily specials – a crab and cheese spring roll and a Tuna cheek, both were good especially the Tuna cheek which was very big by the way…The Lychee drink was very nice as well – I had two :)
The restaurant had two more gimmicks I liked – the straw in the drinks was substituted by a piece of bamboo and I thought it was a nice touch as well as the frozen grapes which were served with the bill – 2 frozen grapes on a skewer served in a small vase with some flowers – simple, delicious and cleans your palette like nothing else.
Address: 871 Denman Street
Tel: (604) 608 1677
